Black Arts Movement: Examined Part V—Theater

CALENDAR

PART I: INTRODUCTION

Pat Cruz & Carl Hancock Rux In Conversation

PART II: FILM Dutchman Film & Conversation

PART III: POETRY

Music & Poetry: Thulani Davis + Wadada Leo Smith

PART IV: MUSIC

Max Roach’s We Insist! Freedom Now Suite Reimagined feat. Michela Marino Lerman

PART V: THEATER

Readings + Conversation

Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy

THU–SAT, APR 13–15 | 7:30PM

$35 / 25

PART VI: DANCE E-MOVES

Our signature dance series curated this season by Stefanie Batten Bland

THU, APR 20 | 7PM

FREE ZOOM

VISUAL ARTS

Dive Deeper with Pat Cruz & Michael Sawyer

THU, MAY 11 | 7:30PM

$15 / $7 SUGGESTED

DONATION

FILM SCREENING

Jason and Shirley

Presented in collaboration with Maysles Documentary Center

THU–SAT, MAY 18–20

PART VII: BLACK ARTS

MOVEMENT: THEN AND NOW CONFERENCE

The Black Arts Movement Conference is a three-day event featuring panels, discussions, essays, and performances that reflect, examine, and point to the full experience and culture of the Black Arts Movement, culminating in a concert curated by Vernon Reid.

The Black Arts Movement: Examined series and conference have been made possible by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation.

PICK-3 OR MORE PACKAGE

Enjoy 25% OFF of your purchase when you buy tickets to 3 or more live events!

Photos by Kwame Brathwaite

FROM THE ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC

DIRECTOR/CURATOR-IN-RESIDENCE

Over the course of the 2022/2023 Season, Harlem Stage examines the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s to the 1970s, and its relationship to race, gender, sexuality, music, photography, film, poetry, theater, and dance, as well as its intersectionality with the larger Black Power Movement. Harlem Stage also intends to raise key questions that remain relevant to artistic production: what is the relationship between art and politics and what is the role of the politically conscious artist?

Harlem Stage will convene seven programs, culminating in a spring conference and concert, paying tribute to the groundbreaking writers, poets, visual artists, musicians, and intellectuals who attempted to situate their work within the political, economic, social, historical, and artistic context of Black Americans. Employing roundtables, public dialogues, and screenings, Harlem Stage also intends to explore controversial areas of tension between the intellectual, ethical, and commercial imperatives of the Black Arts Movement, its scholarship, and the professional demands many of its leaders (given the constraints, and disparate doctrinal paths of debate, within its institutional academy) imposed upon artists, and whether or not the Black Arts Movement’s libertarian, racism-countering goals were ever truly achieved.

Employing “conversations” between highly esteemed sovereigns of the Black Arts Movement and a contemporary generation of artists, Black Arts Movement: Examined centers itself within a dialogue that is both historically and culturally relevant in the ever-changing present world.

Carl Hancock Rux Associate Artistic Director/Curator-in-Residence

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CEO

When Carl Hancock Rux and I first started discussing his joining the staff of Harlem Stage as our Associate Artistic Director and Curator-in-Residence, our conversations centered on how a practicing artist with an active career would be able to adjust to the various responsibilities associated with the running of an arts organization. More significantly we talked about curatorial processes involving the design and implementation of our programs within the context of a team. Even before we sealed the deal for his engagement, made possible through the generosity of the Mellon Foundation, Carl, who had presented his art at Harlem Stage for over 30 years, was brimming with ideas. Certainly something that I should have expected, but when one of his many ideas was to propose a yearlong series of programs examining the Black Arts Movement, I was deeply moved and inspired.

Essentially, I cut my teeth in performance and administration as a participant in the Black Arts Movement almost accidentally as the young partner of the artist, Emilio Cruz, who reluctantly left a career in the NY art world to join the Black Arts Group (BAG) in St. Louis. It was life-changing in many unexpected ways. We were suddenly in the center of an amazing group of artists and activists who mixed their dedication to creative work with the idea of building and transforming community, confronting the social and political strictures that reinforced racist oppression. In part as a response to the Civil Rights movement of the ’60s, we marched, we protested, and we created art meant to respond to and challenge the status quo. Carl and I spent many hours discussing the parallels between those times 50 years ago to the police killings of Black men, women, and children and the continued oppression that inspires the Black Lives Matter movement of today. The ultimate parallel is the creative response of contemporary artists, looking back and creating forward.

Cycles abound sometimes more quickly than we can record or absorb. The point of the series that Carl has conceived, and programmed collaboratively with myself, Managing Director Eric Oberstein, and Programming Manager Yunie Mojica, is not only to absorb, but it is also to examine, to expand our understanding, to learn from the past through the lens of transformative art. As an organization that sits proudly at the intersection of art and social justice, this examination of an arts movement born out of resistance exemplifies the mission of Harlem Stage. I hope that you will join us and participate with us in this examination.

Artistic Director & CEO

ABOUT THE EVENT

Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy, recently acknowledged as one of America’s seminal playwrights, was a play written during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It represented a radical departure from the naturalistic theater of the time and provided performance opportunities for a long list of actors who became the iconic talents of the decades that followed. Readings of excerpts of this groundbreaking work will be presented at Harlem Stage, interspersed with conversation moderated by Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director/Curator-in-Residence Carl Hancock Rux, providing further context on the impact of the work and its relationship to the Black Arts Movement. Featuring discussants Woodie King, Jr., and Jonathan McCrory, and Tony Award-winning actress Trezana Beverley, and actors Stephanie Berry, Toussaint Jeanlouis, and Shayvawn Webster.

Funnyhouse of a Negro is a modern classic about the student Sarah, a young black woman living in New York City, and her search for her identity in a very complex, warring, and fractured world. This search is manifested in her many selves: Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Hapsburg, Patrice Lumumba, and Jesus Christ. Performed by colleges worldwide, this landmark play speaks to students trying to find a place in the world. Funnyhouse of a Negro was first presented Off-Broadway at the East End Theater in New York City on January 14, 1964.

Thank you for joining us!

Harlem Stage

Funnyhouse of a Negro is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

Black Arts Movement: Examined is supported by the Mellon Foundation.

ACTORS

Trezana Beverley

Stephanie Berry

Toussaint Jeanlouis

Shayvawn Webster

PANEL

Trezana Beverley

Woodie King, Jr.

Jonathan McCrory

Carl Hancock Rux

BIOGRAPHIES

CARL HANCOCK RUX

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CURATOR-IN-RESIDENCE

Carl Hancock Rux is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, actor, theater director, radio journalist, as well as a frequent collaborator in the fields of film, modern dance, and contemporary art. He is a co-Artistic Director of Mabou Mines, and Associate Artistic Director/ Curator-in-Residence at Harlem Stage. www.carlhancockrux.com

BIOGRAPHIES

WOODIE KING, JR. PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, AUTHOR

Woodie King, Jr. founded the New Federal Theatre in 1970 with a mission to integrate artists of color and women into the mainstream of American theater by training artists for the profession and presenting plays by writers of color and women. Among its achievements: For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange was performed on Broadway for 10 months and nominated for the Best Play Tony Award before embarking on a three-year national tour. It has subsequently been performed regionally and around the world, and was revived off-Broadway in 2019. Many performers benefited from early successes on NFT’s stage, including the late Chadwick Boseman, Debbie Allen, Morgan Freeman, Phylicia Rashad, Denzel Washington, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Issa Rae.

King has produced shows both on and off Broadway, and has directed performances across the country in venues like the New York Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, Center Stage of Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. His work has earned him numerous nominations and awards over the years, including a 1988 NAACP Image Award for his direction of Checkmates and 1993 Audelco Awards for Best Director and Best Play for his production of Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil. King has also received an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement. He holds honorary doctorates from the College of Wooster, Wayne State University, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY. King has contributed to numerous journals and magazines including Black World, Variety, and The Tulane Drama Review, and has written or edited ten books including Black Spirits: New Black Poets in America (Random House) and The Impact of Race: Theater and Culture (Applause Books).

JONATHAN MCCRORY DIRECTOR

Jonathan McCrory is a two Obie Award-winning, Harlem-based artist who has served as Executive Artistic Director (Creative Doula) at National Black Theatre since 2012 under the leadership of CEO, Sade Lythcott. He has directed numerous professional productions and concerts which include: A Drop Of Midnight (Harlem Stage), The Gathering: A Sonic Ringshout, How the Light Gets In (NYMF), Klook and Iron John (NAMT), Dead and Breathing, HandsUp, Hope Speaks, Blacken The Bubble, Asking for More, Last Laugh, and Enter Your Sleep. He has worked at ETW at TISCH NYU with Emergence: A Communion and evoking him: Baldwin and at SUNY Purchase directing Exit Strategy, and A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes. As an artist-in-residence at AllArts created a short film called The Roll Call: The Roots To Strange Fruit. He has been acknowledged as a finalist for the The Hermitage Major Theater Award and as an exceptional leader through Craine’s New York Business 2020 Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives. In 2013, he was awarded the Emerging Producer Award by the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and the Torch Bearer Award by theatrical legend Woodie King Jr. He is a founding member of the collaborative producing organizations Harlem9, Black Theatre Commons, The Jubilee, Next Generation National Network and The Movement Theatre Company. McCrory sits on the National Advisory Committee for Howlround.com and was a member of the original cohort for ArtEquity. A Washington, DC native, McCrory attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and New York University’s TISCH School of the Arts. To learn more, please visit www.jonathanmccrory.com.

TREZANA BEVERLEY ACTOR

Trezana Beverley is the recipient of the coveted Tony Award for her acting work in the Broadway production of, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Since then, she has created a unique signature in the American theater studying under such masters as: Lloyd Richards, Peter Kass, Kristin Linklater and Omar Shapli at NYU School of the Arts. Her acting training was further enhanced with workshops under the direction of Jerzy Grotowsky, who referenced her unique skill in his book, Towards A Poor Theater (Simon and Shuster).

Trezana has thrilled audiences as a character actress who is known for her signature physical and vocal dexterity which she also blends in her directing work developing a performance genre she calls, Dance-Acting. Notably this was seen in her production of Julius Caesar in Africa.Trezana has performed extensively around the country and London in productions of Mother Courage; A Raisin in The Sun; All’s Well That Ends Well; King Lear (as a man); Peer Gynt and Constant Starr (a musical play about, Ida B. Wells)

Her directing credits include: The Bluest Eye; Yellow Man, For Colored Girls; Salome; The Trojan Woman, and Spell # 7. In film: Beloved; Margarette and the Saturday Night Ladies; Carolina Skeletons, and Resurrection.

Ms. Beverley had been guest director at several colleges and universities including: The Juilliard School; Purchase College (SUNY), Morgan State University and Brandeis University. She is the writer and performer of Mabel Madness, a one-woman show about the famous chanteuse, Mable Mercer, and is currently developing a limited series for television entitled, A Song for Mara, the story of a homeless woman. Ms. Beverley was recently seen performing the character of Eleanor Roosevelt in the play Eleanor and Alice at Urban Stages in New York. Other awards of recognition include Mademoiselle of the Year, Theater World, Audelco Award, and two Citizen Citations for excellence on the Broadway stage.

STEPHANIE BERRY ACTOR

Stephanie Berry just appeared in The Bandaged Place at the Roundabout Theatre. She is a 2022 nominee for a Drama Desk, the Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her role in On Sugarland at New York Theatre Workshop. She recurs on the TV series, Fantasy Island. She appeared in the world premieres of The Garden at La Jolla Playhouse, Frankenstein at Classic Stage Company and Suga In Our Wounds at Manhattan Theatre Club for which she was nominated for a Lucille Lotrel and Outer Critics Award for Best Featured Actress. (She was a featured actress in I Dream A Dream that Dreams Back at Me for Juneteenth at Lincoln Center.) She is the recipient of the New Professional Theatre’s Award for Activism, Advocacy and Outstanding contributions the arts community and The League of Professional Theatre Women’s Lee Reynolds Award for her work using theater for social, cultural, or political change.

She was also seen in GLORIA: A LIFE at Daryl Roth Theatre and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress for her role in Gem of the Ocean at the Round House Theater. She appears in the movies Before You Know it, O.G., Delivery Man, Invasion, No Reservations, and Finding Forrester. Television credits include Luke Cage, The Last OG, Bull, Blue Bloods, all the Law-and-Order shows. She is the recipient of an OBIE Award for “best performance, THE SHANEEQUA CHRONICLES. She is a recipient of the TCG/Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship as a “Distinguished Artist.”

TOUSSAINT JEANLOUIS ACTOR

Toussaint Jeanlouis is originally from Houston, Texas and currently lives in New York City. He attended Arizona State University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Theater with a Concentration in Acting, and continued to California Institute of the Arts, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Acting. This summer he toured in Toshi Reagon’s Parable of the Sower: The Opera as Richard Moss and Bankole. Before the pandemic he played Cordell in the Pulitzer Prize winning Hot Wing King by Katori Hall at Signature Theatre in NYC.

SHAYVAWN WEBSTER ACTOR

Shayvawn Webster is a minister of Earthseed, a Dorothy Dandrige devotee, and anime obsessed (currently watching: Aggretsuko S5). As an actor, Shayvawn was last seen on Thursday nights as Jr. Detective Dani Vertiz in NBC’s reboot of Law & Order. Her upcoming and past screen credits are Happiness For Beginners (Netflix debut summer 2023), Flying Lessons (Indie Feature and NYFA Women’s Fund Grant Recipient), F.B.I. (CBS), and Devs (Hulu). Shayvawn’s stage credits include Zawe Ashton’s For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad at Soho Rep and the world premiere production of The Gods of Comedy at The McCarter Theatre Center and The Old Globe. With her theatre company SOCIETY, she performed in The Beginning Days of True Jubilation by Mona Mansour at the New Ohio, a new play created using the Joint-Stock method. Shayvawn is a proud alumnus of NYU’s Graduate Acting Program.

OUR SUPPORTERS

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

Harlem Stage’s Programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

ABOUT HARLEM STAGE

Harlem Stage is the performing arts center that bridges Harlem’s cultural legacy to contemporary artists of color and dares to provide the artistic freedom that gives birth to new ideas.

For nearly 40 years our singular mission has been to perpetuate and celebrate the unique and diverse artistic legacy of Harlem and the indelible impression it has made on American culture. We provide opportunity, commissioning, and support for artists of color, make performances easily accessible to all audiences, and introduce children to the rich diversity, excitement, and inspiration of the performing arts.

We fulfill our mission through commissioning, incubating, and presenting innovative and vital work that responds to the historical and contemporary conditions that shape our lives and the communities we serve.

Board of Directors

Courtney F. Lee-Mitchell, President

Jamie Cannon, Vice President

Michael Young, Secretary

Mark Thomas, Treasurer

Angela Glover Blackwell

Jenna Bond

Jamila Ponton Bragg

Staff

Patricia Cruz, Artistic Director & CEO

MANAGEMENT

Eric Oberstein, Managing Director

DEVELOPMENT

Shamar Hill, Director of Development

Shanté Skyers, Associate Director of Development

Julianna Friedman, Development Manager

PROGRAMMING

Carl Hancock Rux, Associate Artistic Director/Curator-in-Residence

Sarah McCaffery, Programming Manager and Associate Curator

Maurice Ivy, Programming Associate

Ashley Areche, Programming & Management Intern

MARKETING

Deirdre May, Senior Director of Digital Content and Marketing

Andre Padayhag, Marketing Manager and Graphic Designer

Ashabi Owagboriaye, Social Media Manager

EDUCATION

Jordan Carter, Education & Community Engagement Manager

BOX OFFICE

Eddy Perez, Box Office Manager

PRODUCTION

Amanda K. Ringger, Director of Production

Yvonne H. Chow, Stage Coordinator

Clarence Taylor, Lighting Operator

Orlando Alvarado, House Audio Engineer

Gabriel Fequiere Jr, Video Operator

David Barrett, Julio Collado, Saul Ulerio, Deck, Lighting, and Audio Crew

JoAnn K. Chase

Patricia Cruz

Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes

Jenette Kahn

Rebecca Robertson

LaChanze Sapp-Gooding

Tamara Tunie

OPERATIONS

Rodney Bissessar, Director of Operations

Lamont Askins, Operations Associate

Acey Anderson Sr., Maintenance

ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE

NCheng LLC, Accountants/Advisors

Jake Lee, Partner

Aaron Lam, Supervising

Senior Accountant

CONSULTANTS

Aon/Albert G. Ruben Company (NY)

—Claudia Kaufman, Insurance

DAS Services, IT Consultant

Digital Video Services—BriGuel

Lutz & Carr/Chris Bellando, Accountants

Madison Consulting Group—Matt Laurence

Manchester Benefits—Greg Martin

Marc Millman Photography

Digital Video Services—Jess Medenbach

RL Stein Group—Robyn L. Stein

Snugg Studios—Derrick Saint Pierre

Development Consultant

The Whelan Group Incorporated

—Charles Whelan

Blake Zidell & Associates, Public Relations & Marketing

USHERS

Nobar De leon, Toma Carthens, Marlon

Moncrieffe, Julian Norales, Miriam

Hernandez, Robert Gibbons. Andy Garcia